By April 23, 2008 Read More →

Labor Company of D.P.s Would Go to Palestine, NY Herald Tribune, May 25, 1948.

Lieutenant General Clarence Huebner Click here to view the original article.

FRANKFURT, May 24 (UP).-Members of the first labor company of Jewish displaced persons organized by the United States Army would quit as a unit and head for Palestine if they were ordered to go by the Israel government, their leader said today.

Wilhelm Bacher, youthful Polish chief of the company, said those in his group were “all national Jews.” “If there is mobilization, we will go where we are sent,” he said.

Mr. Bacher said this could happen to his group, even though eighty-six of the 225 men said in a questionnaire they rather would live in countries other than Palestine.

“I can guarantee if they could go legally and take their families along. I could have the entire company ready to go in one week,” Mr. Bacher said.

The company, formed two weeks ago and clad in blue-dyed United States Army uniforms, was organized as the first step in an experimental project of Lieutenant General Clarence Huebner, Deputy American Commander of Germany. If the group picked from among skilled workers, proves successful, more will probably be organized.

It is organized along military lines, as far as discipline is concerned, but the men are free on week ends and may quit whenever they wish. They have an Army garrison life, with regulated hours in barracks at the Eschborn airport near Frankfurt. They get Army meals, clothing, $5 monthly and one-half the standard American post exchange ration, in addition to their regular wages in German marks.

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